Implementation Guidebook Version 1.0 Complete

The first version of the Creating Sustainable Places Implementation Guidebook is now available online. This document is a good resource for any local partner interested in launching a planning effort focused on sustainable development. Specifically, the guidebook:

Articulates the vision, guiding principles and intended outcomes of Creating Sustainable Places.
Communicates the benefits and types of sustainable development.
Provides key steps local stakeholders can take in their own planning efforts, including checklists.
Illustrates how different types of public and private policy and investment can transform places and corridors over time, using photo simulations.
Provides a summary of some of the most innovative planning tools on the market today, including visualization and scenario planning tools.
Describes the indicators and performance measures Creating Sustainable Places will use to measure progress.
Provides case studies of five best practices from around the country, with an emphasis on the transformation of auto-oriented corridors into vibrant, connected and green places.

In addition to serving as a resource for local planning efforts, the guidebook will be a repository of information to capture what we are learning from the Creating Sustainable Places initiative. A final version of the guidebook will be produced at the end of the three-year grant.

RFQs Issued for Corridor Planning

While Creating Sustainable Places is a regional initiative, our overall strategy for moving from planning to implementation focuses on six specific corridors. Resources developed as part of CSP will be applicable to many parts of the region, but our implementation efforts will be concentrated in these six corridors and their surrounding areas.

Work groups for each of the six corridors have been established, and five of the groups have completed scopes of services. Key strategies for these corridors include focusing on specific nodes and future transit opportunities. Corridor teams will use the Envision Tomorrow tool to quantify impacts and outcomes of different types of development and help determine what is economically feasible at various places.

MARC has issued Requests for Qualifications to seek consultant services for five of the six corridors . After a thorough review of the responses, corridor stakeholders will select vendor teams.

Funding Sources Combined for Demonstration Projects

Two parallel programs are pooling their resources to support more robust demonstration projects for Creating Sustainable Places. These projects will demonstrate the feasibility of sustainable development and foster the creation of vibrant, green and connected places.

Funds from the demonstration project element of the CSP grant will be combined with funds from the Kansas and Missouri Surface Transportation Program's Livable Communities Pilot Program to support projects that continue the momentum for sustainable development in key sites along the six corridors noted above, as well as in other areas outside the corridors.

An interdisciplinary oversight committee, with representatives from both the CSP Coordinating Committee and the Total Transportation Policy Committee, will develop criteria to guide the selection of projects for funding, with an emphasis on those that are the most implementation-ready. A call for projects will be issued later this year.

Envision Tomorrow Kickoff Meetings

In late January, more than 50 regional stakeholders attended kickoff meetings held to introduce Envision Tomorrow, a tool to be used in CSP planning efforts. Local government planners, university partners, real estate developers, private planning consultants and CSP Coordinating Committee members viewed demonstrations of the tool and discussed how to customize it for use in the Kansas City region. Representatives from Fregonese Associates and the University of Utah's Metropolitan Research Center demonstrated the tool. Participants provided feedback that will help with customization, making it more useful for area stakeholders.

Envision Tomorrow will help users:

Better understand the economic feasibility of different types of development using a Return on Investment (ROI) module.
Quantify the impacts and outcomes of different types of buildings and development patterns, including fiscal costs and environmental indicators.
Raise the level of analysis to bridge the gap between various stakeholders at the table, including planners and developers.

During the meetings, Arthur Nelson of the University of Utah, author of Megapolitan America, presented his recent research on demographic shifts in America and how they will shape future demand for housing and development types. We anticipate bringing Mr. Nelson back to Kansas City later this year.

As we continue to work with the consultants to customize Envision Tomorrow and localize the data inputs that produce accurate impacts and outcomes, we will schedule additional training and demonstration sessions.

New Creating Sustainable Places Website Launched

Creating Sustainable Places recently launched a new website that makes it easier to follow the initiative and locate information. Key information available on the site includes the CSP guiding principles, a list of partners, the Regional Plan for Sustainable Development, details about the six corridors, the Implementation Guidebook, and background on the CSP grant.

As the CSP corridor, tool and indicator work progresses, this site will be a repository of information to track what we are doing and how to get involved. We encourage you to visit the site and check in periodically as new information will continually be added to this page.

You can help!

The success of Creating Sustainable Places depends on the active involvement of its partners and other stakeholders. MARC has established the organizational and communication mechanisms to do this, but we need your participation and input.

Stay informed. Read our newsletters and visit the CSP website.
Invite others. Are there others in your organization or community who should be on our mailing list? Send name, organization, title and contact information to Jeff Hirt.
Tell us what you need. Let us know what sustainable development tools would be most helpful to your community. Also, please share information about existing tools you've found to be helpful.
Share your ideas. What do you think is the most important thing that can come out of this project? And what do we need to do to make that happen?

Please feel free to contact Dean Katerndahl, 816-701-8243 or Jeff Hirt, 816-701-8305, with any questions, ideas or information about this initiative.